Customer view of Smartphones (Q1-2012)

Before the year-end (2011), we have published Customer view of Smart Phones that used the results of customer-generated content opinion mining. That post was viewed over 75,000 times and was quoted in many online publications. Even more interestingly, the findings were subsequently echoed by major customer satisfaction surveys from J.D. Powers and PC Magazines, 3 months later and much less specifically.

Here is the Q1 2012 update. We have looked at 323 smart phones and mined opinions from 94,049 customer stories about their experience with these devices. In the interest of consistency, we again focus on smart phones that have been reviewed during the last 3 months, and aggregated at least 100 customer reviews each. Only the 29 phones, that actually were shipped to paying customers, are included in this study as we are interested only in actual customer experience, not in marketing accolades.

The most customer-reviewed smart phones that made through the filters for Q1 2012 are HTC Thunderbolt (5,891), Samsung Droid Charge (1,801), and Motorola Droid Bionic (1,479). Obviously, the time of a phone introduction impacts a total, aggregated number of customer stories published for that device.

Enormous popularity of the Thunderbolt, which starts to recede, keeps HTC brand as the most reviewed one by their customers.

It is worth mentioning the rise of a number of reviews for Motorola (from 19% to 26%) and Samsung (from 13% to 23%) brands, that comes at “expense” of the Apple, fell from 17% to 5%.

The reviews of Android phones absolutely dwarf ALL other operating systems, but I would caution any conclusions based on this fact. The Thunderbolt numbers are unsustainably high, and Apple’s switch from 4 to 4S model distorts this picture. I suspect we will see substantially different distribution by the next quarter. One thing that is worth noting is the growth of Windows phones reviews from 1% at the year end to 4% at the end of Q1 2012.

Customer satisfaction with Android phones has slightly improved from 1.18 to 1.20, but Apple 4S satisfaction has really jumped 12% with retirement of iPhone 4. Green bars represent Q1-2012 scores while the red ones measure 2011 CSAT. It is worth repeating that these scores are the aggregate, average satisfaction with the phones and not with their operating systems. We will look at those later in this post.

This time HTC Rhyme phone came with the highest general satisfaction score of 1.5, exceeding its customers expectations by 50% (N=213). The Samsung Infuse (CSAT=1.47/N=304) and Apple 4S (CSAT=1.43, N=1,205) were the closest contenders, while LG Cosmos (0.81/424), Motorola Droid 2 Global (0.82/1,186) and Blackberry Curve 3G 9330 (0.91/387) have disappointed their customers the most.

More specific insights in customer perception have required application of additional filters to select models representing different Operating Systems in significant numbers. The following models were selected.

Apple 4S – 1.205 customers (iOS)

Blackberry 8520 – 356 customers (Blackberry OS)

HTC HD7 – 331 customers (Windows WP7)

Motorola Droid RAZR 4G – 1,144 customers (Android)

Nokia N8 – 575 customers (Symbian)

The graph below (a snapshot of MI Analysis dynamic dashboard) shows a level of satisfaction with these phones based on the Operating System experience. A score 1.0 represent “Satisfied” value as defined in our model and interpreted by our algorithms as an equivalent of this statement – “I experienced what I have expected”.

More details and customer feedback verbatim are available via access to the dynamic dashboard for this segment on request

Alastair, this study is done for the benefit of product marketers who are our clients. Consumers would find this Phone Recommendation service much more useful. It is based on the same Opinion Mining technology, but with algorithms that allows consumers personalize their priorities when selecting a phone.